System and method for fleet command and control communications with secondary radar functionality using 360° multi-beam hemispherical array

1. A system, comprising: a multi-beam hemispherical array (MBHSA) antenna having a plurality of single circular row of antenna elements comprising a set of baseline directive antenna elements arranged sequentially in a first 360° circular antenna array, digitally summed using primary beam weights to form a primary sum beam, a set of upper tilted directive antenna elements arranged sequentially in a second 360° circular antenna array and being latitudinally aligned with the set of baseline directive antenna elements, and a set of lower tilted directive antenna elements arranged sequentially in a third 360° circular antenna array and being latitudinally aligned with the set of baseline directive antenna elements, wherein the set of upper tilted directive antenna elements and the set of lower tilted directive antenna elements are formed by changing weights applied to the received signals in memory using first and second azimuth forming weights to form azimuth difference sum beams wherein a received signal of an adjacent antenna element is further used to form at least one of the primary sum beam and the azimuth difference sum beams; and a wireless fleet base station including a plurality of non-shared receiver channels, each non-shared receiver channel being coupled to and dedicated to a particular antenna element of the first 360° circular array, the second 360° circular array and the third 360° circular array, the wireless fleet base station being configured to provide 360° of transmission and reception from horizon to zenith using the plurality of antenna elements for two-way command and control fleet communications to and from a plurality of mobile devices of a fleet and to provide secondary radar functions using the two-way command and control fleet communications to track the mobile devices based on received signal characteristics received at the plurality of antenna elements.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein: the first 360° circular antenna array transmits and receives in a first elevation coverage sector being a first portion of an area from the horizon to the zenith; the second 360° circular antenna array transmits and receives in a second elevation coverage sector above the first elevation coverage sector and being a second portion of the area from the horizon to the zenith; and the third 360° circular antenna array transmits and receives in a third elevation coverage sector below the first elevation coverage section and being a third portion of the area from the horizon to the zenith, wherein the first, second and third 360° circular antenna arrays being configured to form a hemispherical coverage area from the horizon to the zenith and the first portion, second portion and third portion are different portions.

3. The system according to claim 2 , wherein the plurality of non-shared receiver channels comprises: a set of baseline receiver channels coupled to the first 360° circular antenna array; a set of upper receiver channels coupled to the second 360° circular antenna array; and a set of lower receiver channels coupled to the third 360° circular antenna array; and wherein the wireless base station further comprising at least one beamformer configured to: form baseline digital azimuth and elevation difference beams associated with the set of baseline receiver channels and baseline primary beams for determining an azimuth and elevation estimate of one or more of the plurality of mobile devices of the fleet relative to the first 360° circular antenna array; form upper digital azimuth and elevation difference beams associated with the set of upper receiver channels and upper primary beams for determining an azimuth and elevation estimate of the one or more of the plurality of mobile devices of the fleet relative to the second 360° circular antenna array; and form lower digital azimuth and elevation difference beams coupled to the set of lower receiver channels and lower primary beams for determining an azimuth and elevation estimate of the one or more of the plurality of mobile devices of the fleet relative to the third 360° circular antenna array.

4. The system according to claim 3 , wherein the at least one beamformer configured to: determine for each antenna element of the set of baseline antenna elements a baseline azimuth difference sum beam, a baseline elevation difference sum beam and a baseline primary sum beam using the baseline azimuth difference beams, the baseline elevation difference beams and the baseline primary beams from a corresponding different contiguous subset of baseline antenna elements; determine for each antenna element of the set of upper antenna elements an upper azimuth difference sum beam, an upper elevation difference sum beam and an upper primary sum beam using the upper azimuth difference beams, the upper elevation difference beams and the upper primary beams from a corresponding different contiguous subset of upper antenna elements; and determine for each antenna element of the set of lower antenna elements a lower azimuth difference sum beam, a lower elevation difference sum beam and a lower primary sum beam using the lower azimuth difference beams, the lower elevation difference beams and the lower primary beams from a corresponding different contiguous subset of lower antenna elements.

5. The system according to claim 3 , wherein the wireless fleet base station comprises: a first transmit channel selectively coupled to one or more of the baseline antenna elements of the first 360° circular array; a second transmit channel selectively coupled to one or more of the upper antenna elements of the second 360° circular array; and a third transmit channel selectively coupled to one or more of the lower antenna elements of the third 360° circular array.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the wireless fleet base station configured to, per instantiation, form monopulse angle estimations and adaptive interference cancellation using communications from the plurality of mobile devices in a hemispherical coverage area and to search and track each mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices using the two-way command and control fleet communications.

7. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising the plurality of mobile devices, the plurality of mobile device including an unmanned airborne vehicle device.

8. An antenna, comprising: a plurality of baseline directive of single circular row of antenna elements arranged sequentially in a first 360° circular antenna array at a first tilt which receives signals in a first elevation coverage sector associated with the first tilt between horizon to zenith, wherein a received signal in the first elevation coverage sector at a first antenna element of the antenna elements is used to form the received signal at an adjacent second antenna element; a plurality of upper tilted directive of single circular row of antenna elements arranged sequentially in a second 360° circular antenna array at a second tilt which receives signals in a second elevation coverage sector associated with the second tilt between the horizon to the zenith and latitudinally aligned with the plurality of baseline directive antenna elements, wherein a received signal in the second elevation coverage sector at the first antenna element of the antenna elements is used to form the received signal at the adjacent second antenna element; and a plurality of lower tilted directive of single circular row of antenna elements arranged sequentially in a third 360° circular antenna array at a third tilt which receives signal in a third elevation coverage sector associated with the third tilt between the horizon and the zenith and latitudinally aligned with the plurality of baseline directive antenna elements, wherein a received signal in the third elevation coverage sector at the first antenna element of the antenna elements is used to form the received signal at the adjacent second antenna element; wherein the first 360° circular array, the second 360° circular array and the third 360° circular array being selectively controlled to provide 360° of reception of wireless signals from the horizon to the zenith from a plurality of mobile devices of a fleet in response to command and control fleet communications and to provide secondary radar functions using the command and control fleet communications to search for and track the plurality of mobile devices based on received signal characteristics associated with the first 360° circular array, the second 360° circular array and the third 360° circular array, wherein a received signal of an adjacent antenna element is further used to form at least one of the primary sum beam and the azimuth difference sum beams.

9. The antenna according to claim 8 , wherein: stacked upper antenna elements, baseline antenna elements and lower antenna elements of the first 360° circular array, the second 360° circular array and the third 360° circular array, respectively, being configured to form a hemispherical coverage area from the horizon to the zenith.

10. The antenna according to claim 8 , wherein: the plurality of baseline directive antenna elements is configured for dual polarization in a first elevation coverage sector; the plurality of upper tilted directive antenna elements is configured for dual polarization in a second elevation coverage sector above the first elevation coverage sector; and the plurality of lower tilted directive antenna elements is configured for dual polarization in a third elevation coverage sector below the first elevation coverage section.

11. The antenna according to claim 8 , wherein the first 360° circular array, the second 360° circular array and the third 360° circular array being selectively controlled to provide both transmission and reception of wireless signals from the horizon to the zenith in 360° for two-way command and control fleet communications to and from the plurality of mobile devices of the fleet and to provide the secondary radar functions using the two-way command and control fleet communications to search for and track the plurality of mobile devices.

12. The antenna according to claim 8 , further comprising transmit antenna elements arranged sequentially in a fourth 360° circular antenna array, each transmit antenna element being latitudinally aligned with a corresponding baseline antenna element.

13. A method, comprising the steps of: a) determining for each antenna element of the set of single circular row of baseline tilted directive antenna elements, arranged in a baseline 360° circular array, a baseline azimuth difference sum beam, a baseline elevation difference sum beam and a baseline primary sum beam using baseline azimuth difference beams, baseline elevation difference beams and baseline primary beams from a corresponding different contiguous subset of baseline antenna elements, wherein a received signal of an adjacent antenna element is further used to determine at least one of the primary sum beam and the azimuth difference sum beams, with a non-transitory computer software operable in a processor; b) determining for each antenna element of the set of single circular row of upper tilted directive antenna elements, arranged in an upper 360° circular array, an upper azimuth difference sum beam, an upper elevation difference sum beam and an upper primary sum beam using upper azimuth difference beams, upper elevation difference beams and upper primary beams from a corresponding different contiguous subset of upper antenna elements, wherein a received signal of the adjacent antenna element is further used to determine at least one of the upper primary sum beam and the upper azimuth difference sum beams with a non-transitory computer software operable in a processor; c) determining for each antenna element of the set of single circular row of lower tilted directive antenna elements, arranged in a lower 360° circular array, a lower azimuth difference sum beam, a lower elevation difference sum beam and a lower primary sum beam using lower azimuth difference beams, lower elevation difference beams and lower primary beam from a corresponding different contiguous subset of lower antenna elements, wherein a received signal of an adjacent antenna element is further used to determine at least one of the lower primary sum beam and the lower azimuth difference sum beams with a non-transitory computer software operable in a processor; d) searching and tracking a plurality of mobile devices in response to a correlated azimuth and elevation based on received signal characteristics of the received signals from the baseline 360° circular array, the upper 360° circular array and the lower 360° circular array with a non-transitory computer software operable in a processor; and e) repeating steps a)-d) for each subsequent instantiation.

14. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising the steps of: transmitting command and control signals from one or more selected baseline directive antenna elements of the baseline 360° circular antenna array in a first elevation coverage sector to at least one mobile device with a non-transitory computer software operable in a processor; transmitting the command and control signal from one or more selected upper directive antenna elements of the upper 360° circular antenna array in a second elevation coverage sector above the first elevation coverage sector with a non-transitory computer software operable in a processor; and transmitting the command and control signals from one or more selected lower directive antenna elements of the lower 360° circular antenna array in a third elevation coverage sector below the first elevation coverage section wherein stacked upper antenna elements, baseline antenna elements and lower antenna elements being configured to form a hemispherical coverage area from the horizon to the zenith with a non-transitory computer software operable in a processor.

15. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising the steps of: receiving, in response to transmitting command and control signals from the selected one or more baseline directive antenna elements of the first 360° circular antenna array in the first elevation coverage sector to one or more mobile devices, a first response packet from at least one first responding mobile device; receiving, in response to transmitting the command and control signal from the selected one or more upper antenna elements of the second 360° circular antenna array in the second elevation coverage sector above the first elevation coverage sector, a second response packet from at least one second responding mobile device; and receiving, in response to transmitting the command and control signals from the selected one or more lower antenna elements of the third 360° circular antenna array in the third elevation coverage sector below the first elevation coverage section, a third response packet from at least one third responding mobile device.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the step d) is based on the first response packet, the second response packet and the third response packet.

17. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the searching and tracking of the plurality of mobile devices comprises search and tracking of a plurality of unmanned airborne vehicle devices in flight.

18. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising the step of: cancelling interference received the baseline 360° circular antenna array, the upper 360° circular antenna array and the lower 360° circular antenna array based on the received signal characteristics of the received signals.

19. The method according to claim 18 , wherein the interference comprises jamming signal interference.